Characters in Hemingway's Short Story
People in The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber
Aug 7, 2009
The ending of Ernest Hemingway’s short story “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber” leaves the reader with many questions about what actually happened when Macomber was killed and what Margaret’s intentions were when she pulled the triggers. In order to form an intelligent opinion about Francis Macomber’s demise, it is necessary for the reader to understand the complexities of the three main characters.
Francis Macomber
Francis Macomber is extremely wealthy. He is rich enough to afford to hire a private guide for a private safari. He is tall, dark, thin-lipped, and handsome. At thirty-five-years-old Macomber is in good shape. He is married to Margaret/Margot who stays with him because he is rich and is only going to get richer. While Margaret is often fed up with her husband, she stays not only because of his money but also because he tolerates her and her infidelity.
Unfortunately, Macomber is a coward. He runs away when the lion they are hunting charges towards him through the long grass. Later that day he proves that he is a good shot by skillfully shooting an impala. However, it is not until Margaret sleeps with their guide, Wilson, that Macomber becomes so angry that he can disregard his fear.
The next day, bolstered by hatred and anger, Macomber (with Wilson’s assistance) successfully takes on three buffalo killing two and injuring the third. Macomber is elated. The feeling of being alive overwhelms him and he is anxious to go after the injured buffalo. Wilson considers it to be Macomber’s coming of age experience.
Macomber doesn’t get to enjoy the exhilaration of true manhood for very long. As he and Wilson, shoot at the charging buffalo, Margaret shoots and kills her husband.
Margaret Macomber
Margaret Macomber is a beautiful woman. When she was younger she was paid five thousand dollars as a model for beauty supplies. Margaret is a cruel woman who indulges in thinly veiled insults and direct criticism. She married Macomber for his money and he keeps her around because she is beautiful. While they dislike each other and fight, they are unwilling to surrender what the other offers.
Margaret has a history of infidelity. Prior to the trip, she promised Macomber that she would not sleep around. However, when Macomber embarrasses Margaret by running away from the lion, she decides to spend the night with Wilson their guide.
While Wilson views her as a prime specimen of hard, cruel-hearted American femininity, he enjoys having her in his bed. He especially appreciates how she doesn’t talk much but sticks to business so to speak.
Throughout the story, Margaret maintains an attitude of distain even hatred for her husband. However, after the men hunt the buffalo she realizes that while Wilson is the same man as he was before, Macomber had changed. It soon becomes apparent that she is frightened by the change.
When the last bull charges Macomber, he stands his ground and continues shooting. It is uncertain whether Margaret shoots at the bull in defense of her husband or as an excuse to shoot her husband. It is clear that for the first time since the beginning of the safari, Margaret watches the activity while holding a gun rather than sitting quietly in the vehicle. And it is certain that Macomber is dead and that Margaret was the one who shot the gun that killed him.
Robert Wilson
Robert Wilson is a professional guide. He lives by a code that encompasses that of a hunter and a businessman. He gives lip-service to the laws and social mores surrounding his profession but it is apparent that he follows his own rules whenever he can get by with it.
As a professional hunter, his job is to make his clients look and feel as if they are great hunters. No matter what he thinks of his clients, Wilson will finish the job, will take their money, and will maintain professional secrecy regarding how the hunt actually went.
Throughout the story Wilson finds himself in a strangely cyclical pattern of disliking Macomber and then finding himself liking him again. Wilson distrusts Margaret and doesn’t like her but he is not immune to her physical charms and when she approaches him, he lets her join him in his tent.
After Macomber kills the buffalo and makes the transition from child-like man to a brave and blood-thirsty man, Wilson shares his favorite quote by Shakespeare “By my troth, I care not; a man can die but once; we owe God a death and let it go which way it will, he that dies this year is quit for the next.” In Wilson’s words “Worse one can do is kill you.”
After Margaret kills Macomber, Wilson harasses her. He clearly believes she intentionally killed her husband and he keeps harassing her about it until she asks him to please stop. However, despite his evident hatred of her and her actions, he tells her not to worry; he will cover her tracks at the inquest
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